ZK State Channels A Better Solution for On-chain MMO Games

Enhancing On-chain MMO Games ZK State Channels as the Ultimate Solution

Original author: @MohamedFFouda

Translation: BlockBeats

Entrepreneur and partner at Volt Capital, @MohamedFFouda, shared his views on scaling solutions for blockchain games on social media platforms, pointing out that ZK state channels are a better option for scaling multiplayer games. BlockBeats has translated the original article as follows:

In previous discussions, I delved into the concept of application-level scalability, particularly focusing on the entire chain of games. Horizontal scaling is a very suitable solution for single-player games. However, for multiplayer games, zero-knowledge proof (zk) state channels have become a better scaling option. So, what exactly is a zero-knowledge state channel?

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State channels are not a novel concept, in fact, they are one of the earliest scaling solutions for Ethereum. The essence of state channels can be divided into three parts: first, extracting a portion from the on-chain state, then continuously updating this state off-chain, and finally, submitting the final state back to the chain when necessary.

Clearly, this concept is derived from the design scalability of the Bitcoin Lightning Network, which is essentially a payment channel. However, without zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP), the advantages of state channels are not significant. Without ZKP, all authorized state changes (off-chain) signatures must be verified on-chain, which does not significantly reduce costs compared to on-chain transactions.

Zero-knowledge proofs provide convenience to solve this problem. Participants in state channels only need to generate an off-chain proof to verify that all their interactions and signatures are valid. This proof can be verified on-chain at a low cost, resulting in significant cost savings. So, what is the connection between this and scaling multiplayer blockchain games?

Many multiplayer games, such as poker, are match-based, meaning a group of players create and participate in game competitions, and based on the game results, each person’s assets will change accordingly. In this case, zero-knowledge state channels can effectively scale multiplayer games, reduce on-chain verification costs, while ensuring game security and fairness.

For these types of games, you need a shared layer to store the assets of all players. In each game, the specific details that happen are not as important as the final result of the game, which is the change in asset balances. Additionally, players cannot participate in multiple games simultaneously.

This makes these games ideal candidates for zero-knowledge state channels. Once the game starts, the state of the participating players is locked on the rollup. During the game, players will generate zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) to prove that their actions are valid. These zero-knowledge proofs will be recursively built upon previous zero-knowledge proofs, and so on.

When the game ends, only the final zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) and relevant state changes are submitted to the application rollup for settlement. This is because intermediate transactions (TX) are not processed on the rollup, achieving up to 100 times scalability. This approach also applies to non-turn-based games, such as “Among Us”.

However, in this case, an entity is needed to act as a “temporary” sequencer, sorting channel transactions and generating intermediate recursive zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP). I refer to this as the “transient L3”. The main challenge of the zero-knowledge state channel approach is the online requirement of channel participants. A quitting player may force the remaining players to continue the game on the application rollup, resulting in higher fees for other players.

Nevertheless, this approach has great potential, and many teams, including Ontropy, LianGuaiima Studios, and cartridge, are working towards achieving this goal.

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